1. Field of The Invention
This present invention relates to a credit card sized flashlight with a flat surface. More particularly to a plastic card light which illuminates with one or more light-emitting diodes xe2x80x9cLEDxe2x80x9d with a horizontal pressure switch formed integrally within an edge which does not exceed beyond the thickness of the plastic body.
2. The Prior Art
A recent card light found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,070,990 assigned to the Eveready Battery Company illustrates how a single xe2x80x9cbuttonxe2x80x9d battery may be sandwiched between the anode and cathode of a circular LED integrated into a switching mechanism. The circular LED protrudes beyond the top and bottom edges of the card light encasement
Another prior art planar flashlight is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,789, issued to Sinclair et. al., which teaches a large relatively planar disposable flashlight. The Sinclair flashlight uses is the size of a deck of playing card and will not fit in the credit card slot of a wallet.
The invention herein is a truly flat credit card flashlight. The card light may be disposable with the battery supply fixed within the card light housing (FIGS. 1 and 2) or the card light may have replaceable batteries with a slot, panel or door allowing access to the battery supply (FIGS. 4,6 and 7). The nature of the plastic body forming the card light is taken into account when forming a horizontal on/off switch from a flexible switching arm extending in plane from the flat plastic body and which does not extend beyond the thickness of the plastic body. The switch may also latch (FIGS. 5 and 7) for a constant xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d mode. Within the scope of the invention is the use of multiple LEDs and a variety of battery configurations . Advertising and/or information may be stenciled onto the flat card light (FIG. 1) and magnets (FIG. 3A) may be incorporated into the body for mounting or hands free operation.
The features of the invention believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claim. The invention itself, however, both as to configuration, and method of operation, and the advantages thereof, may be best understood by reference to the following specification, abstract, claims and accompanying drawings.